Brush Review: Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencil Blending Brush

Long time, no review! Sorry, ladies & gentlemen, but I now have seven (yes, 7!) furry creatures to feed. Five of which almost fit in my hand and the mom whose very demanding! The kittens are five weeks old now, and starting to eat wet food and explore. I haven't been able to get away!

But I think I can safely review something, to hold you over temporarily. It's the Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencil Blending Brush.

That's a mouthful, I know. But this brush? I love it. Really, very much love it.

It's packaging is simple: clear plastic box with a pretty little cardboard card that tells you about the brush. How much simpler can it be?

Isn't it pretty?

The brush, like all of Urban Decay's brushes, is made entirely of (recycled) aluminum. This gives it some weight but a pleasant amount of weight. The bristles are synthetic, cut short into a small domed shape. The bristles have a certain amount of give but not so much so that the brush is like a fluffy brush and can't move the creamy formula of shadow pencils. It's perfectly dense to allow you to blend shadow pencils without over blending to the point you lose pigmentation. The Shadow Pencils have a thicker formula than eyeliners, by the way. Thicker than the formula on NYX's Jumbo Pencils too!

Brush head

Blurry picture of the brush head, because the camera wouldn't focus.

I own only one 24/7 Shadow Pencil, in the shade Delinquent. I had trouble finding a way to blend it until I caved and bought this brush. It works amazingly well for creamy pencils like the Shadow Pencils and Jumbo Eye Pencils. Honestly, I don't know any other brushes like this. It's short and dense enough to move the Shadow Pencils without a problem. I tried to use my Smashbox blending brush (non-synthetic bristles which are also longer, fluffier) to no avail on Milk; it didn't get blended, the brush's bristles just sort of stuck to it! I somehow managed to blend the edges in my crease so I could finish my eye makeup that day.

Do you absolutely need this brush? No, not really. I couldn't find a NYX brush or a realTechniques brush to even slightly match it and in all my life, have never seen a brush with this small of a head on it. Not quite sure how anyone else blends their eye pencils; I know many people like their fingers for this job but my eye area is a bit small for that! While I was looking to see if NYX possibly had a brush like this that could blend their Jumbo Eye pencils, I found this and wanted it. It's called "Boa with Ribbon" on the Sponges & Puffs page of NYX. What would I do with this fluffy thing? No idea! But it's adorable, isn't it??

You can find this brush at Ulta, UrbanDecay.com and Sephora for $16. Not the greatest price for a brush, I know, but it's not a necessity! I needed it to blend my Shadow Pencil and it works for my Jumbo Eye Pencils. This makes it a win for me. Like above, it is absolutely not a necessity for your makeup bag.

PS: I have a 12 piece brush set coming from China that I should have sometime next week. I'm going to play around with them, give you a preview when they arrive before I review them. They shipped the 3rd of June and it took another three days for them to reach an EMS sort facility. I never particularly expect fast shipping when I go for products with free shipping. At least I can track it reliably! I will also, finally, get lip swatches, Lip swatches are done and updated! some looks, and other product swatches done this weekend I hope. Assuming I have the patience for these things!

SPOOKEHDOOM